


My Bubble is More Like a Brick Wall

by amusewithaview



Series: Said the Hatter with a sigh, "It's always Tumblr time." [6]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alpha Darcy, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Animal Instincts, Feral Behavior, Gen, Territorial Drives, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-07
Updated: 2016-04-07
Packaged: 2018-05-31 19:09:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6483928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amusewithaview/pseuds/amusewithaview
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For a brief moment, she fantasized about tackling him, going for the throat and ripping it out with her teeth.  The element of surprise would be on her side, she could probably take down at least a few of the jackboot thugs before the rest overwhelmed her.  If it went to court and trial, she had a good chance of getting off – Alpha dominance battles were like that, and nobody could argue that he hadn’t violated her territory.</p>
            </blockquote>





	My Bubble is More Like a Brick Wall

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: this idea hit me last night (circa November 27th, 2015) and I had some strong mental images I couldn’t do away with. This probably won’t go any further, but I wanted to explore the idea of Alphas actually having territory urges and how that might affect them.

Darcy manifested as Alpha at thirteen, shocking everyone except her mother.

Melissa Lewis had been training her daughter, training  _all_  of her children, for the possibility that they might be Alphas from birth onwards.  As an Alpha herself, she knew the odds were good that one of them would take after her.  She wanted them to be good Alphas, but more than that, she wanted them to be good  _people_.  With that in mind, she sat her husband down early in their marriage and outlined exactly what they would need to do to ensure that any Alphas they produced would be as self-possessed, as self- _controlled_ , as possible.  What she told him was unusual, almost unheard of, but he trusted her.  She didn’t volunteer how she had come by the knowledge and he didn’t press.  Daniel Lewis knew enough about his wife’s past to know it pained her, and that was enough to keep him from pressing.

Each of their three children had their own bedrooms, and those rooms were sacrosanct.  Their parents did not enter unless specifically invited, and the children knew to extend each other the same courtesy.  As they grew and began Beta classes in school, Melissa and Daniel took it in turn to explain the other orientations. Daniel’s two sisters were both Omegas, unusual but not unheard of, so the Lewis family prepared for the possibility that they might have any combination of orientations about once the children reached puberty.  Both Mr. and Mrs. Lewis ensured that their children joined a number of after-school activities, and were exposed to as many different kinds of dynamics and pack groupings as possible.

“Your space is your own, and you have a right to defend it,” Melissa told them.  “But you need to pick and choose what you claim carefully. Don’t bite off more than you can chew, and  _never_ violate someone else’s claim.  At home, it will be easy, but out in the world it will be harder and you need to be ready.”

All of these preparations came to fruition the day Darcy woke up and found that overnight everything had changed.  She rose from her bed and circled her room, touching things at random.  They were  _her_  things and this was  _her_  space. It was hers to keep, hers to protect, hers to defend against all comers.

But there was another smell, threaded all throughout, one that made her -

A knock at the door had her spinning and crouching, shoulders hunched and teeth bared.  Darcy sat there for a few seconds before her higher reasoning kicked into gear and she stood.  This was her house and there were only a few people it could be on the other side of that door.  “Mom?” she called.

“Yes.”

“Mom, I think I – “

“You did.  I can smell it.”

Her hands clenched and released at her sides spasmodically.  “What do I do?”

There was a sigh and then a soft rustling sound as Melissa Lewis settled herself on the floor outside her daughter’s room.  “How do you feel, Darcy?”

“I’m… I don’t know.”

“Darcy.”

There was a thread of command in her mother’s voice that had her hackles rising again.  “I’m upset.  You’re my mom, but you’re – “

“I’m an Alpha, too.”

“Everything smells like you,” she practically whispered.  “But it’s  _mine_.”

“Your room is yours,” Melissa reassured her.  “That hasn’t changed.  My smell is only there because you’ve  _invited_  me before. Think back, baby.  I only come in when you want me and I leave when you tell me. The room is  _yours_.”

“It’s mine,” Darcy repeated, slowly calming.  “The room is mine, but the house is yours?”

“Yes, sweetheart. It’s a layered claim.  Can you accept that the house is mine so long as your room stays yours?”  That was the big question; the one that made Melissa’s heart beat faster with fear and worry.  If Darcy couldn’t handle it then they would have to work it out some other way, and it would be much more difficult and likely to result in violence.

Alpha instincts were strong, but they could be controlled with practice and proper handling. Melissa Lewis had been preparing herself and her family for this day for years.  When Darcy opened the door and gave her mother a tremulous smile, her heart soared because she knew she had succeeded.

She stood slowly, hands open at her sides with her palms facing her daughter, every line of her body trying to communicate that she was no threat.  “I won’t come in, even if you invite me, for a week or so.  That’s about how long it’ll take for you to settle a bit.  You can’t go to school, but they’ll expect that.  Your brother can bring you your homework and you can work on it here.”

“Mom?” Darcy said, eyes starting to tear up.  “Can I – can I have a hug?”

“Oh,  _sweetheart_ ,” Melissa said, but she held still.  “Are you sure you want one?”   _Can you handle it?_ went unspoken, but hung in the air like smoke between them.

Darcy took a step outside her room, shivering and unsure for a moment as she left her own territory and entered her mother’s.  She took another step, looking at her mom – looking at the other Alpha – for any sign of aggression, but Melissa Lewis held perfectly still: arms at her sides as she offered her daughter a close-lipped smile.  The teen edged closer until she could tentatively wrap her arms around her mother’s waist, trembling a little as she tried to sort through the conflicting rush of instincts that threatened to overwhelm her.

“It’ll get easier,” Melissa whispered.  “I promise.”

…

Watching jackbooted thugs violate the lab – her territory – years later, Darcy Lewis clenched her fists and focused on the breathing techniques her mother had taught her.  It was kind of like Lamaze, but instead of trying to bring forth life, she was holding back her desire to  _end_  it. Jane and Erik were arguing with the head jackboot, another Alpha, but Darcy needed to ignore him for the time being. Instead, she watched the flunkies like a hawk, a small part of her soothed by the way that they stepped lighter, moved slower, and handled everything as gently as if they were packing away delicate eggshells instead of heavy machinery under her steady glare.

She scooted onto a (now empty) table and sat cross-legged.  It looked like Jane and Erik were giving up.  The older man had wrapped an arm around her shoulders and was whispering something to her.  Darcy took out her iPod and started fiddling with her playlists, she would need something to calm her down after the jackboots left.  Music was her best bet, and had been since she was a teen.

A sudden lack of sound in the room made her look up.  The Alpha, the one who had been talking with Jane and Erik, had entered the lab.  All of the jackboots were continuing to work, but now they looked like they were moving through taffy.  The attention of every Beta and Omega in the room was firmly fixed on the two Alphas.

Darcy watched the man carefully as he picked his way through the room towards her.  She had her teeth clenched on a growl when he stopped not five feet from her and favored her with a particularly bland smile.  She bared her teeth at him in return, but there was nothing even remotely friendly about it.

“I’m afraid that I’ll have to ask you for your iPod, Ms. Lewis,” he said, holding out his hand expectantly.

For a brief moment, she fantasized about tackling him, going for the throat and ripping it out with her teeth.  The element of surprise would be on her side, she could probably take down at least a few of the jackboot thugs before the rest overwhelmed her.  If it went to court and trial, she had a good chance of getting off – Alpha dominance battles were like that, and nobody could argue that he hadn’t violated her territory.

But… that wasn’t the kind of Alpha she was.  It wasn’t the kind of Alpha her parents had raised her to be.  She didn’t  _have_  to do that, even if all her instincts and baser drives were screaming encouragement at her.  She had better control of herself, even if this asshole was pushing all her buttons,  _deliberately_.

Darcy looked him right in the eye and smiled, showing all of her teeth.  She saw one of the jackboots swallow convulsively out of the corner of her eye.  “Take good care of it,” she said, voice gone low and husky with a growl she couldn’t entirely restrain.  She held out her hand and waited for him to move closer so she could pass it to him. “I just loaded, like, twenty new songs on there.”

The man nodded and tucked it into his pocket.  “Thank you, Ms. Lewis,” he said, then he turned on his heel and left, leading the jackboots with him and leaving the trio alone in the emptied lab.

“Are you okay?” Jane asked, leading Erik over.

“Are  _you?_ ” Darcy asked, giving both of them a quick once-over.

“Fine,” Erik said brusquely. “We just need to keep our heads down and let it go.  There’s nothing we can do.”

“Actually…” Jane started.

“I’m in,” Darcy said immediately.

“But it could be – “

“ _I’m in._ ”

“I mean, it’s definitely ill – “

“Jane,” Darcy interrupted. “I’m either going to help you, get wicked drunk, pick a fight with someone, or possibly just combine those last two.  Now, you tell me – which one do you think is the best idea?”

The rest, as they say, was history.

…

“Thor wants to move his lady-love into the Tower,” Tony announced, sailing into the common kitchen and heading straight for the coffee.  Sometimes he regretted opening his Tower to the Avengers (mostly at times like this when they wanted to  _invite more people_  to his definitely-not-an-extended-superhero-slumber-party), but mostly he liked having them around.  Mostly.

“Problem?  I thought you’d learned to play nice,” Natasha teased.

“I’m never  _nice_.  Anyways, the problem is Foster’s assistant.  She’s an Alpha.”

“What’s her name?” she asked, curious because she thought she remembered something -

“Something very Austen – Darcy!  Darcy – “

“Darcy Lewis?”

“You know her?”

“No,” Nat said, head tilted to one side as she recalled the particulars.  “I remember Coulson saying something about her.  They had a run-in in New Mexico.  He said she had ‘impressive control.’”

Tony raised his eyebrows. “Agent Coulson?  Coulson said she had _impressive control?_  Well, this I gotta see.”

Natasha sipped her tea and cocked her head to one side.  “You planning on warning Steve?”

“Where’s the fun in that?”

“You think Alpha dominance battles are  _‘fun?’_ ”

“When they’re between the Cap and someone who looks like  _that?_  Besides, I’m sure the Cap can handle it.”

Famous last words.

**Author's Note:**

> ALPHA!DARCY  
> WHAT IF ALPHAS HAD EXTREME TERRITORIAL DRIVES THAT EVERYONE HAD TO MANAGE WITH  
> AND YOU BASICALLY ENDED UP WITH TWO KINDS OF ALPHAS: ONES WHO COULD CONTROL THEMSELVES AND ONES THAT COULDN'T  
> BETAS DEFER BUT ALSO DON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT ALPHA DOMINANCE BATTLES OR OMEGA EMPATHY HEADACHES  
> OMEGAS ARE LOW-LEVEL EMPATHS THAT CREATE GROUP HARMONY  
> IDK  
> THIS PROBABLY WON'T GO ANYWHERE ELSE  
> IT WAS AN ODD IDEA THAT GRIPPED ME RATHER SUDDENLY  
> ALPHAS ARE COOL WITH FAMILY AND MATES BUT HAVE A HARD TIME WITH OTHER ALPHAS THAT ARE NEW TO THEM  
> COULSON WAS DELIBERATELY PROVOKING DARCY TO TEST HER  
> SHE PASSED WITH FLYING COLORS  
> HE PROBABLY WOULD HAVE TRIED TO RECRUIT HER IF SHE HADN'T CLEAVED TO JANE


End file.
